What's That Smell?

Desperation. Do you smell it?

The Republican party is freaking out.

Faced with the strong possibility that the House of Representatives will fall to the Democrats, three of the six most competitive Senate races are also leaning Democrat, with two of the remaining three in a statistical dead heat.

Here are the signs of an imploding party:

Attack ads in Tennessee smearing Democratic challenger Harold Ford Jr., placed not by his Republican opponent Bob Corker, but by the RNC. Corker claims he doesn’t want the race-baiting ads to air, which means he is either lying or he has no pull with his own party. Either way it's a last-ditch disgrace.

President Bush claiming ‘We’ve never been stay the course, George!’ in an interview with George Stephanopolous. But of course, he used that phrase all the time, as dozens of video clips prove. Not that this is the first time Bush has lied, but this lie indicates how desperate he is to keep his party in power. Predictably, his apologists say his comment was just a stupid mistake--the type common among inept idiots? You decide.

President Bush and his military advisors hatching a plan for a "timeline of new security measures" in Iraq, tantamount to a timeline for withdrawal. Though he would never be honest enough to admit that he is doing what the Democrats have long been calling for, Bush’s hypocrisy is transparent and another indication of the mess he and his party are in.

Rush Limbaugh insulting Michael J. Fox, who starred in ads promoting Senatorial hopeful Democrat Claire McCaskill in Missouri. Disgraced drug-addict Limbaugh had the vile, tasteless nerve to accuse Fox of exaggerating his Parkinsons’ symptoms rather than address the content of Fox’s message. Limbaugh has no credible rationale for limiting stem-cell research, not unlike so many other conservatives including radical religious tool Senator Jim Talent, McCaskill's GOP opponent.

White House officials holding a "Talk Radio Summit" to try to strong-arm radio hosts into buying their failing agenda in Iraq. "No, it's working, really!"

Dishonest hypocrites like former GOP leader Dick Armey pretending that the five-year Republican spending binge has nothing to do with GOP values. But it has everything to do with their real agenda: to impose their mores and religion on the rest of us at any cost, including selling their souls to big business. For Armey to suggest "Republicans are spending like Democrats" denies the reality that Bill Clinton produced a surplus, and the Bush deficit is far beyond any deficit a Democrat ever ran up.

What a joke.

Republicans have become the party of Smear and Fear. And Republican operatives seem to be as comfortable lying as they are taking money from lobbyists in exchange for legislative favors. They can crow and wail about the Commie-loving, baby-eating, daughter-raping, Satan-worshipping Democrats, but their rhetoric only penetrates the minds of the most narrow, ignorant, hate-filled fanatics. The rest of us just aren’t falling for it.

- JT Compton